Improvement in steam fire-engines



N4 PETERS. PHOTO'UTHOGRIFHER; WASHINGTON D C liNrTnn STATES PATENT Ottica@ LYSANDER BUTTON AND ROBERT BLAKE, OF VVATERFORD, NEW' YORK.

IMPROVEMENT IN STEAM FIRE-ENGINES.

Speciiication forming part of Letters Patent No. 52,55 7, dated May 3, 1864.

.To @ZZ whom, it may concern:

Be it known that we, LvsANDEa BUTTON and ROBERT BLAKE, of Waterford, in the county of Saratoga and State of New York,

have invented a new and Improved Steam Fire-Engine or Pump; and we do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description thereof', reference being had to the accompanying drawings and the letters of reference marked thereon.

The nature of our invention consists in the arrangement and combination of a steam and water cylinder, each having double pistons, attached to two rods, one working within the other, and their motion governed by double cranks, the object being so to construct a steam tire-engine or pump as to obviate the vibrating motion always produced by singlepiston engines, and at the same time dispense with the necessity of great weight of parts, which is ot great importance in the construe tion of steam reengines.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use our invention, we will proceed to describe its construction and operation, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure l is a side elevation; Fig. 2, a vertical longitudinal section through the same, Fig. 3, a top view of the same, and Fig. 4 a section of the valve and detached part ot' the cylinder having the steam-ports.

Same letters have reference to like parts in all the iigures.

l/Ve have not thought it necessary to represent our engine mounted upon a carriage,

which may be done in any form which the judgment and t ste of the constructer may choose.

We construct a frame, A A, secured to the boiler, (partially represented at B,) upon which frame we secure the steam-cylinder C and water-cylinder D, each having two pistons, E F and G H, one in each cylinder, F and G being secured to a hollow piston-rod, I, and the other two, E and H, being secured to the rod J, which works within the hollow rod I.

Ve place the shaft a upon bearings b b. Upon either end of said shaft we place balancewheels K K, and between the bearings two cranks, to one of which is connected the pis- `in opposite directions at ton-rod J by means of connectingrod L, and in the balance-wheels (one of which is removed in Fig. l, so as to represent the parts behind it) we place crank-pins c c, to which are attached the connecting-rods d d, and the opposite ends are attached to a cross-head, M, which is secured to the hollow piston-rod l.

The valve N is worked by means of the crank or eccentric e, connected with the arm fupon the rock-shaft g, and the valverod h being connected to said rock-shaft by means of the arm t. The steam is admitted .at the ends of the cylinder through the ports j j when the valve is in position as in Fig. 2, forcing the steam-pistons to the center and the water-pistons to the ends of their respective cylinders, the steam exhausting through the ports Z k, and as the valve is changed the steam is admitted to the center port, l, and the several pistons are forced in opposite directions. To accomplish these results, our valve is peculiarly constructed so as only to require a single valve to operate ythe two pistons, the openingm admitting the stem to the port j', and having a chamber, a, through which the steam exhausts through the port k when in position as inFig. 4, and at the opposite end by way of the chamber o and the port k, at the same time admitting steam to the center through the opening p in the valve and port l, and thus alternately working the pistons as desired, said pistons being governed in their exact motion by means of the double cranks connected to the respective pistonrods, as described, and securing a uniform and exact motion to the respective pistons and valve, as described and represented, thereby securing a simple and compact con` struction, and the working of the pistons against eachother in the respective cylinders being such as to produce equalization of strain upon the frame and steadiness of motion to the whole machine.

Having thus described the construction and operation of our engine, what we claim, and

desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

l. The combination of two pistons moving the same time in one steam-cylinder,operating two pistons in one watercylinder, in opposite directions, connected by two piston'rods, one working within the other, the motions of which are govboth pistons are operated upon in opposite erned by a double crank having direct condirections at the saine moment.

` neetion with the piston-rods, substantially in LYSANDER BUTTON. ROBERT BLAKE.

the manner and for the purpose described.

2. The construction of the single Valve, having` openings and chambers for the admission and exhaustion of the steam at the ends and center ofthe cylinder, so constructed as that Witnesses:

1i. A. SAVAGE, S. MoMioirAnL. 

